August 30, 2015

There is nothing cuter than a corgi puppy.....nothing. I would love to have another corgi, but they are too expensive, and don't fit into my austerity plan for retirement...ha ha ha.

This semester I signed up for 3 classes ~ pilates, individual studies (a continuing class on my Chaco studies), and an archaeology class.
~I dropped the archaeology class because of the comments of my individual studies professor. He did not recommend that I take the honors class because the Prof. is overshadowed by his wife's accomplishments & bitter about it......and the reviews on ratemyprofessor.com. One student actually stated "obviously mentally ill", and another said he took an interesting subject and made is incredibly boring. Not to mention that his lectures ramble, and rarely follow the reading material, which is what you're actually tested on.
~I dropped the pilates class last week because I developed a severe migrane about 3/4 of the way through the class. I had to have Romeo come and get me, and one of the gym employees called an ambulance ~ they checked me out, said I was OK (as far as my heart and blood pressure) and then gave me a gurney ride to the car because I said I didn't know how I was going to walk all that way, because if I stand up, I was going to vomit. It was embarrassing.
**So now I only have the individual studies and the history class I'm taking at BYU. I looked for another phys ed class, but I couldn't find one that was on the weekend or evening. Sound familiar? My ongoing issue. If you're tired of hearing about it, truthfully, I'm tired of bitching about it.
**I was basically accepted into the honors program, but the MANDATORY class is on Tuesday from 1pm to 2:50pm. Again, I can't take it. Once I recall my current anthropology professor asked me if I would be able to quit work soon........yeah, right.

Why do I continue, you ask? Well, I'm a senior now. I'm getting close to the goal. Quit now? No. I'm a stubborn bitch, you see.

August 16, 2015

I forgot to show the before and after photos of the stair remodel. I don't really have a before photo, because Romeo had removed all of the carpeting on his first day of vacation, and didn't think about it. I would have mentioned it, but I was out of the loop for his plans.....I simply came home and the carpeting was gone and he was pulling tack strips, nails and staples out.

Our stairs, sans carpeting, because some people are impatient and impulsive.

Here is a little bit of the carpeting that used to be on the stairs. Here, I took the photo while looking down at the stairs from the second story.

Going up, anyone? I think the risers look lighter than the wall on the left because the sunlight is more direct....but they are painted the same color as the wall on the right.

Another photo of the lower set of stairs.

No, it's not done yet. We still need to patch and paint the nail holes on the risers, and caulk the small spaces between the wall and the stairs (& paint that too). We haven't yet started the flooring for the landing either, but the plan it to finish it before cold weather, because we will need to polyeurethane it after installation, which smells awful. Romeo thinks we can stain it before fitting it in, although I wonder if that is doable.

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When I turned on the computer this morning, I discovered my wireless mouse would not connect. I've had this issue a few times before....

I spent 45 minutes restarting, turning the blue tooth off and on, replacing batteries in the mouse......over and over with no results, until finally it connected. I find this so frustrating and irritating. Why does this always seem to happen when I am trying to get things done in a limited time frame? ARGH! Get me a hammer, I'll fix it good!!!

August 15, 2015

Mean people. You know, the ones that cut in front of you, give you a dirty look (who knows why???), are nasty to their kids in front of you (which makes you wonder what they do when no one is watching). There's a huge list here, but you get the idea.

Daddy long legs spider

People that wear the most hideous outfits in public. Have you ever seen the photo extravaganza from Walmart shoppers? Yeah, like that. Too tight, too skimpy, too dirty, too much cleavage.....again the list goes on and on. It makes you want to run the other way screaming "my eyes! my eyes!".

Cat flea

Public phone conversations. Really people, if you want to have a fight with your mother-in-law, please keep it to yourself. If I can hear it, I feel like I'm included. And I don't want to be.......

Red flour beetle

Rudeness....in general. Please treat your fellow humans in the manner in which you wish to be treated. This means you don't cut in line, you don't make huffing noises when the person in front of you is taking a little longer than you wanted, when traffic is down to one lane you don't speed all the way down to the merge and force your way in. Didn't your Mom teach you anything? Did you ever listen? Pretend she is watching everything you do, and act accordingly.

Bed bug

Facebook posts that show a photo of some pitiful thing, then declare that if you don't repost, you're an asshole. Or someting incredibly religious with the same repost idea....which doesn't seem very Christian. Or whatever.

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Classes start on Monday. I guess I'm ready......there is one class I'm not sure I'm going to commit to, because my current anthropology professor thinks he is not a great instructor (because the wife is much more accomplished and he's not enjoying being second fiddle, apparently). His "rate my professor" ratings aren't that good either. I figure I'm going to one class, and then decide. Although Romeo thinks I should just drop it now. He's probably right, but please don't tell him that.

August 9, 2015

Well, today is the day! About six weeks ago, Romeo was talking about some of the things he planned to do over his 2 week vacation...and one was about shampooing the carpet on the stairs. I just happened to be on pintrest (I only recently found that it's not just manicure designs and make up tips) and viewed a before and after of a couple that removed their carpeting and replaced it with wood. They did theirs in a weekend ~ well, that's what they said anyway ~ so we talked about it, and decided to go for it. We talked about how easy it will be to clean them, and how noisy they might be too. But in the end, we decided to do it.

That was on the Sunday before his vacation started.

On Monday when I arrived home after work, he had removed all of the carpeting and was prying the staples and strips. I was a little surprised, because I thought we were going to plan it more in advance.

The following weekend we took a trip to Lowes and Home Depot for stair treads and that sort of thing. We found them, and chose the pine treads (to keep the cost down) and discussed what to do with the raisers (which we decided to paint the same color as the walls), and finally found a stain that matches our laminate flooring.

2 weeks ago: measure, cut and try in each an every stair step, because all are slightly different. There are 14. Stack in the house, clean garage, and collapse in the living room for some boob tube time. Fall asleep.

1 weeks ago: Haul the treads out to the garage, belt sand, find sand, stain, and put on 3 coats of polyurethane ~ although that 3rd one was the next day. Unfortunately, the stain was not water based as we assumed, and by the time I was done wiping the excess stain off, I was feeling pretty sick. So I took a nap while Romeo did the coats of polyurethane, because he thought I would get sick from the smell of that too, which I didn't disagree with. Repeat the collapse/boob tube/fall asleep scenario from the week before.

Today: Yesterday we cut, primed and painted the raisers (I'm not sure I'm spelling that right). Again, we tried in each one, because again, all slightly different. It was not as tedious because the wood is thin and flexible, so it was easier to "make it fit"....with enough force behind it that is.

Romeo thought out loud that we could probably get it installed and finished yesterday, but I suggested we shower and have dinner, to start the installation today...hopefully with enthusiasm and patience. Something Romeo lacks when finishing up a project, lol.

I will post photos (mayber later today). Unfortunately I don't have the before photos, because of said carpet removal on his first day of vacation.